


a knight’s watch

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Character Study, F/F, Gen, it’s not quite in chronological order but i am trying my best, moderately book based until the end, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:48:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21698734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It was reforged from Ned Stark’s sword. You’ll use it to defend Ned Stark’s daughter.( I will. )
Relationships: Sansa Stark/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	a knight’s watch

Brienne had been a subject of mockery her entire _life_.

Bitterness never stuck, but words certainly did, and walls could be built upon iron and steel in the mind just as well as the ground.

_Fair_ , they’d called her. At the age of ten, already broad shouldered with crooked teeth and a smile just the same— but her hair had been long then, and maybe the sprinkle of stars across her features really did compliment the shade of her eyes. But like all good things, that had only lasted so long. The ridicule followed too swiftly, and at the age of twelve not even her hardest attempts at _behaviour becoming of a lady_ could hold their tongues.

The day she turned fourteen was the first day she held a sword, and the last she ever wore a dress.

When she was sixteen, she broke her third betrothal on top of three ribs— though not her own. _I insist you act like a proper woman once we’re married_. Her reply had been fair, _only if you can beat me in combat._

Selwyn halted his attempts at marriage following the incident, and Brienne was thankful. 

At the age of nineteen she had the equivalent of a knights training, and the mockery had lessened with a sword at her side, but it never left. 

—

Dancing with him made her feel like a _woman_. Beautiful and ladylike and everything everyone told her she wasn’t.

Renly was gentle, _always_ courteous— and maybe that’s what pulled at her heart the most. He was everything she thought of a knight, a lord, a _man_. 

Perhaps that’s why it’d hurt so, years later, attending his wedding. Margaery had looked lovely, _was always_ lovely, but the prickling sensation in her heart would not cease. _Brienne the Blue_ , a member of the Rainbow Guard. She should be proud— protecting the King with her life was a great honor. And yet, it was painful. This was painful. 

(With a wound through his chest and eyes glazed over, she realises this is the first and only time she will ever hold Renly in her arms.

She contemplates this, years later, when her tears have long dried and she can’t remember the outline of his face but his smile is still scorched into her mind.)

—

At first, the Kingslayer is no different to any other man Brienne has crossed paths with. He is just as gruff, just as _rude_ , in more ways than one. 

She isn’t surprised.

What does surprise her is the begrudging respect they form over time. What surprises her is how he loses his own hand for her, how he jumps into a pit, weaponless, to fend off a bear _for her sake_ , how _Kingslayer_ turns to _Jaime_. 

When she names her sword, _Oathkeeper_ , she thinks maybe she sees a crinkle in his eyes— the faintest hint of a smile. 

Despite everything, she is honored. She will keep her oath, she will find Sansa. In this she has no doubt. She thinks maybe he shares that too. 

When she leaves, oddly enough, it feels as if she is leaving a piece of herself behind. 

—

Sansa’s hair reminds Brienne of the sapphire isles, when the sun sets below the horizon and the sky is painted deep shades of red. But she is no poet, and she wouldn’t dare voice these thoughts. 

She has kept her oath, but she does not trust easily.

Brienne watches Littlefinger like a hawk throughout Castle Black. She does not trust him an inkling, and Sansa knows, but stays silent. She is reluctant to depart to King’s Landing, but in the end she’s given no choice. 

Though she doesn’t think Sansa incapable, Brienne frets for her throughout the journey anyway.

(The guilt never leaves. Sansa has been through _much_ , and that thought haunts Brienne. If she’d only found her earlier, maybe if she’d tried harder—

But she cannot change the past. Sansa reassures her, she _knows_ , and when Brienne raises her gaze to meet her lady’s she isn’t met with ice and steel— but the warmth of Tarth, and maybe something more.)

—

The title carries weight, but she’s come this far, and she has no doubts.

_Lord Commander of the Queensguard to Sansa Stark, Queen in The North_. She is a knight, a _true knight_ , and she doesn’t think she’s ever been happier, _content_ , than now.

Brienne knows that’s not the only reason her heart swells. Their gazes linger now, as do their smiles, as do their touches. Her cheeks burn at times, and she remembers her dance with Renly, the feelings back then are not dissimilar to the emotions that hit her now. 

For now, she doesn’t worry. When she drops her head and catches Sansa’s eye, she knows she’s exactly where she’s supposed to be. No amount of foul people or fouler battles could fell her blade.

**Author's Note:**

> brienne has been in love with three (((three))) ppl in her life and she deserves SANSA


End file.
